Planeswalker (3)

Maybeboard

Artifact (1)

Creature (1)

Casual Queen Marchesa deck built around mostly draining opponents. I considered more pillow fort and stax but settled more heavily on rattlesnake elements as a defensive strategy and a mix of other stuff to deter would be crown stealers from attacking you, focusing more on getting to the deck's win cons.

I originally had the idea after getting beat by a "poison arrows" deck in modern that uses the card viridian longbow with deathtouch creatures to have reusable removal for anything decent you put out. This deck uses pathway arrows, viridian longbow and chandra's ignition to do the same with Marchesa or other deathtouch creatures. This lead to the larger focus overall on rattlesnake elements to deter opponents from wanting to attack you.

The life gain aspect isn't strictly focused on gaining a LOT of life, although it can, so much as just a lot of separate life gain triggers to interact with cards like Ajani's Pridemate, Karlov of the Ghost Council, Cliffhaven Vampire, and Archangel of Thune. When it does gain large amounts of life, it's mostly to be a finisher with Sanguine bond, Vizkopa Guildmage or Aetherflux Reservoir.

Marchesa's monarch ability adds a new political element that's not in most games that's quite fun. It generates a surprising amount of card advantage while you out pace opponents.

Planeswalker (3)

1x Ajani,&emsp13;Strength&emsp13;of&emsp13;the&emsp13;Pride

1x Kaya,&emsp13;Ghost&emsp13;Assassin

1x Sorin,&emsp13;Grim&emsp13;Nemesis

Magic the Gathering, FNM is TM and copyright Wizards of the Coast, Inc, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved. This site is unaffiliated. Articles and comments are user-submitted and do not represent official endorsements of this site.